How do you pronounce Dostoeyesky?

[NotTheDoctor]

In the Borders and Waterstones of Glasgow Márquez is filed under 'M'.

Really? Does this happen only in English speaking countries or any country where the main language isn't Spanish (or Portuguese)? I know in France (at least at the FNAC) García Márquez is under G and Vargas Llosa under V.

Back to the pronunciation of D..., what's the standard spelling of the name in English? I googled it to see what it was in Spanish and I got "Dostoievsky" and "Dostoyevsky". I know the question was originally asked by someone who was wondering about the pronunciation of foreign names in his native language, but things tend to get even more complicated when you have to pronounce foreign names in a foreign language as you never know (at least I don't) if you should pronounce it the way you would in your native language or rather try to pronounce it how (you think) a native speaker of the language you are speaking would or if you should in fact use some approximation to the native pronunciation (if you happen to know what that is). Ok, I'll stop writing now, I just made myself dizzy.

 

[Stewart]

what's the standard spelling of the name in English?]

Dostoevsky, I believe.

 

[Sitaram]

Audio

My apologies if this has already been posted.

The following link has an audio pronunciation available, but I am at the moment on a computer with no speakers.

http://www.bartleby.com/people/Dostoyev.html

Here are two other links on the pronunciation

http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/courses/previous/ru351/dostoevsky/dostnames.shtml

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0815941.html

 

[steffee]

Thanks for all the links, everyone.

I'll take your advice on board - and say it very quickly.

 

[nomadicfollower]

This is in the very back...so I'm not even sure anyone will read this, but what the hell...

How do you pronounce Niestchze (sorry if it's misspelled)


Ne-chee?

 

[StillILearn]

Nie·tzsche (n"ÆchÃ, -ch"),
Frie·drich Wil·helm (fR"ÆdRiÀ vilÆhelm)

(Like that helps)

 

[NotTheDoctor]

Nie·tzsche (n"ÆchÃ, -ch"),
Frie·drich Wil·helm (fR"ÆdRiÀ vilÆhelm)

(Like that helps)

Had to take phonetics my first year at La Sorbonne and my final grade was I think 4 (out of 20)…

but I'm sure it is helpful for some people!

 

[Stewart]

Neet-sha, to me.

 

[Sergo]

You probably have no idea just how complicated a question that is!

To get a definative answer I'd PM Sergo, who is one of our Muscovite members.

For what it's worth I was taught that Достое́вский is pronounced da-sta-yef-skee. O is indeed pronouced as A when not stressed; although they remain an O if you say the word slowly enough, or speak Russian with a Volga accent. Also, without going into what voiced and unvoiced Russian consonants are, a B followed by a C is pronounced as F rather than V.

Is that clear? This simple lesson in Russian grammer should give you an idea why they drink so much over there.

Like I said, it's best you ask Sergo, I could have been taught a load of #~[#*...

Regards,

K-S

Oh... Gtreat... Were is my Japanese - Russian dictionary... OK, OK...

You were very close, Kenny. Though I would use a cross-bred between yours and one of Sitaram's variants:
DastaEfskij. The last vowel [j] is like [y] in "boy", and the previous is really [ee]... And e (that goes in between a and f) is stressed.
But that is, as you correctly mentioned, only one of variants. It is how we, Moscovites, say it. The most of Russians would say: DostaEvskij, DostoEvskij, or DostaEfskij, DostoEfskij.

But it is really a shame to end such an interesting discussion...
Maybe somebody could say "Strugatsky brothers" in Russian?

 

[Kenny Shovel]

Well, thank goodness that's sorted out, we can all relax over Christmas now...

Who'd of thought Достое́вский was so difficult to pronouce...although it's no человеконенавистничество or even взьзднут...

 

[abecedarian]

Well, thank goodness that's sorted out, we can all relax over Christmas now...

Who'd of thought Достое́вский was so difficult to pronouce...although it's no человеконенавистничество or even взьзднут...

Huh? You're doing it again I always heard that names do not have to follow phonetic rules. That helps to make genealogy research so much fun

 

[Sergo]

Well, thank goodness that's sorted out, we can all relax over Christmas now...

Who'd of thought Достое́вский was so difficult to pronouce...although it's no человеконенавистничество or even взьзднут...

Yes, ВЗБЗДНУТЬ is quite an interesting word...

 

[TottyMan]

well i say dos-toe-vski